63. What if War Machine Had Not Destroyed the Living Laser?
Author: Dan Slott
Illustrator: Manny Galan (pencils)
First Published: July, 1994
Length: 32 pages
Number of Endings: 3
Plot Summary: The Watcher muses on the power of choice while showing
several possible outcomes of Iron Man's encounter with the Living Laser.
My Thoughts: I'm decidedly superhero-ignorant, so I really know very
little about the context of this adventure. That being said, I found it to
be a pleasant enough read, though decidedly shallow. There's only one
choice, and it doesn't allow the reader to determine what happens, merely
what sort of ending occurs ("unexpected," "tragic,"
etc.). Considering the vagueness of the choice and the brevity of the book,
the majority of readers will most likely end up reading the thing in a linear
fashion, thus making the interactivity almost completely pointless. As a
result, this is obviously not a must-read for interactive fiction fans;
still, it is a mildly diverting novelty, and it takes so little time to enjoy
that I see no harm in picking up a copy and trying it out. If there are more
of these things, I certainly wouldn't mind seeing them.